Rehn told reporters all 27 EU member countries had expressed their consent with the motion, which he described as a move toward membership candidate status.

The initialing of the EU association accord followed months of tense negotiations among Bosnia-Herzegovina's Muslim, Serbs and Croats that ended in agreement on federal police reforms and on amended rules that should make decision-making in central bodies more efficient.

The U.S.-brokered Dayton peace accords ended the 1992-95 ethnic wars in Bosnia-Herzegovina, which created a single state made up of two entities, the Serb-run Republika Srpska and the Muslim-Croatian federation.

The two entities have their own governments and a central Bosnian government with a rotating presidency.